Water heater



Jan. 12, 1937.

H. J. LONG WATER HEATER Filed Dec. 1 29, 1954 3 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOR ATTORNEY Jan. 12, 1937.

H. ,1; LONG WATER HEATER 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Dec. 29, 1934 R ow T E NH N E R f o my .w m nA Y 1 Qm w: a u v I y L C 2 hr M m m l 0 m ,m m 7 9 a h m 4 H. J. LONG WATER HEATER Jan. 12, 1937.

Filed Dec. 29,1954

' 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 liNv ENTo l //r6erf.2'4009 flyg d gw Patented Jan. 12, 1937 TED srA'r s PATENT OFFICE 1 2,067,495 WATER/HEATER.

Application December 29, 1934, Serial No. 759,680 1 Claim. 01. 126350) This invention relates to water heaters and more particularly to the construction of the storage tank therefor and the arrangement, jacketing and insulation thereof.

.An object of this invention is to provide a construction in which all parts of the heater will be readily accessible for purposes of inspec tion or repair. To this end the invention contemplates a jacket construction which is in large part easily removable.

Other objects will in part be obvious and in part be pointed out hereinafter.

To the attainment of the aforesaid objects, the invention still further resides in the novel details of construction, combination and arrangement of parts, all of which will be first fully described in the following detailed description, then be particularly pointed out in the appended claim, reference being had to the accompanying drawings in which:

Fig. '1 is a longitudinal sectional view through the heater jacket; parts of the heater proper being shown in side elevation; Fig. 2 is a view similar to Fig. 1 but taken at right angles thereto, certain parts being removed to show the interior construction; Fig. 3 is a bottom plan view on an enlarged scale of the closing plate of the tank; Fig. 4 is a view showing in side elevation a modified form of the tank shown in Fig. 1; Fig. 5 is a front view of the heater on a reduced scale; and Fig. 6 is a detail showing the construction of one of the. rods for notching the front panel of the heater jacket in position.

Referring to the drawings, the reference numeral l0 indicates a base of cast metal having a passage H therein adapted to be connected to a source of gas supply. This passage is internally or externally hot galvanized or otherwise treated to close all pores of the casting. A central standard [2 extends upwardly therefrom and forms the main support for the heater assembly. The standard I2 terminates in an X-coupling l3, one arm of which connects to a cold water pipe i4, another arm of which connects to a drain pipe !5 and the remaining arm of which is connected with a nipple 56 forming the cold water intake to one or more elements I! of the heater.

The heating elements one of which is shown at I! are preferably of the type in which the heat absorbing surfaces extend vertically and are provided with vertically extending fins thereon as disclosed in my copending application Serial No. 697,484, filed November 10, 1933. A gas burner I8 is positioned below the heating elements l1 from the upper end of which hot water is discharged by pipe I9 extending upwardly into the upper portion of the interior 20 'of the storage tank or boiler 2|.

The tank 2| is formed of an upper hemispheri- 5 cal shell 22 and a similar lower shell 23. These shells are preferably stamped or spun from relatively light sheet copper. The two halves are united by a soldered seam as indicated at 24. The solder used is preferably ofthe type having 1 a relatively low melting point of 400 to 500 F. so that in the fusion thereof the sheet copper will not be subjected to destructive temperature. So united the two hemispherical halves form a substantially perfectsphere. An opening 25 is 15 provided in the lower half '23 which opening is adapted to be closed'by a bottom plate 26. This plate carries all connections with the interior of the tank and in order to fasten it securely to the relatively thin copper sheet forming the 20 lower shell 23, a collar 2'! is provided around the opening to which the sheet copper is welded or brazed, as will be hereinafter more particularly described. The collar 27 is provided with screw threaded openings to accommodate fastening 25 bolts 28. An annular gasket 29 is interposed between the collar and the bottom plate so that upon tightening of the bolts 28 a water tight joint is formed at this juncture.

A hot water outlet pipe 30 extends from the 30 upper portion of the tank through the bottom plate 26. This pipe is preferably provided with a rod 3| which functions as a thermostat to control a relief valve 32 permitting the discharge of water through pipe 33 in the event that the 35 water should become too hot. Normally the relief valve 32 is closed and the hot water is. drawn through pipe 34. A cold water inlet pipe 35 also extends through the bottom plate 26 and terminates in the lower portion of the tank. In 49 order to prevent the cold water from rushing upwardly due to its high velocity on entering the tank and thereby reducing the temperature of the hot water in the upper portion thereof,

a cap 36 is provided at the discharge end of pipe 45 35 which cap is provided with openings 37 directed downwardly to insure that the cold water will be diffused in the lower portion adjacent the bottom plate 26 without cooling the warmer water in the upper part of the tank. A thermo- 5o stat 38 also extends through the bottom plate 26 into the interior of the tank to control the flow of gas to the burner in accordance with the temperature of the-water in the tank.

The entire water heater assembly is enclosed 55 bly is formed in two parts 4-5 and t6.

in. an outer jacket of thin sheet metal which, since it does not support any portion of the tank or heater, may bemade of light material that can be readily stamped into such form as to give the assembly a pleasing external appearance. The

jacket is so constructed that large parts thereof- The cover 39, cylindrical portion 10 and sheet 32 define a chamber ta surrounding the spherical tank which chamber is preferably filled with some insulating material, such as rock wool. willbe seen that when so filled the tank is completely surrounded with insulating material and that there are no uninsulated portions excepting at the bottom plate 26.

The jacket for the lower portion of the assem- These portions together form a cylindrical casing for the lower part of the heater and are united by means of a pair of rods d! in such manner that upon removing the rods the entire front portion 45 of the jacket may be removed for inspectio and repair of the heater assembly. The combustion chamber 58 is separately enclosed and provided with a removable panel as. The pilot burner is positioned outside of the combustion chamber 48 but is so directed as to project a pilot flame horizontally, thereinto. By this construction the pilot burner is protected from the direct heat of the burners I8 when the same are in operation. A flue 5| conducts the products of combustion from chamber 48 so that the same have no opportunity to condense or corrode the connections to the boiler, although indirectly warming the same to prevent heat losses therefrom. I While the spherical construction of the tank shown in Figs. 1 and 2 is tobe preferred, some of It will be seen that this construction also consists of two stamped or spun parts united by a single circumferential seam '56. A single opening 51 is provided as before for the insertion of all connections with the interior of the tank. I The opening 51 is reinforced as before by a collar 58. Inbothconstructions the collar 58 has a thin upwardly extending lip 59 conforming to the spherical surface of the tank and to which the' thin sheet metal of the tank is welded orsoldered.

The thin lip 59 facilitates this operation in that it does not conduct heat away from the joint as rapidly as where the same is made with a heavier metallic member. 7

It will'be seen from'the above description that I have provided a water heater in which the parts are of extremely light yet sturdy construction,

and which may be easily manufactured and readily assembled or repaired. Insulation ofthe tank is rendered comparatively simple while the en-.

tire assembly is compact and housed in a light casing of pleasing external appearance.

While there is herein described but a single embodiment of my heater together with a modified form of the water tank thereof,- it will be obvious that other modifications within the scope skilled in the art.

Having described the invention, what is claimed is:

A water heater including a casing, a tank in the casing having an opening in the lower end thereof, a plate closing the opening and having 'inlet and discharge connections for the tank, a

light sheet metal partition extending from the plate to the walls of the casing and forming a chamber therebelow, water'heating means in the chamber in communication with the connections, and a supporting column in the chamber extend--- ing from the bottom of the casing to the plate to support the tank independently of the partition;

' HERBERT J. LONG.

of the appended claim will be apparent to those v 

